Vildenovia, Zinnia
8 1/2 by 11 inches
LAB685 $55
This encyclopedic work spanning over 50 years and running to 201 volumes was the undertaking of an enterprising young publisher Charles-Joseph Panckoucke (1736-98), who got his start in the publishing world of the day by collaborating on the Encyclopedie of Diderot & d'Alembert. This latter work was to become a definitive record of the history of European thought and a remarkable reference for all aspects of eighteenth-century European civilization. From the onset, it was controversial, banned by the government & condemned by the Pope, causing it to become enormously popular.
We are offering just a few prints from the volumes relating to Botany, published in the late 1700s. The backdrop of the publication was the French Revolution, when, in 1793 Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette went to the guillotine. It was a time of great transformation in France & the reorganization in a democratic manner of many of the establishments previously dependent on the whims of royal patronage. The old Jardin des Plantes National Museum of Natural History, run by twelve professors in twelve different scientific fields, one of whom was Lamarck.
The artists for the botanical section included none other than the brothers Redoute, Deseve & Fossier. Each original antique print is on strong, aged white chain lined paper, bearing the Whatman watermark with recent professional hand coloring. There is no descriptive text but a copy of the title page will be provided.
